A symposium on translation and South Asian literatures
The aim of the symposium is to discuss various practices of translation. Starting from the assumption that translation is a creative literary activity and the translator the ‘recreator’ of a text in another language or medium, we would like to focus on the case of South Asia and discuss questions related to this area and its literatures. How can translation be a creative activity and how does it transpose tradition in new ways of writing or expressing it?
Be it from one language to another (Hindi to English by Jason Grunebaum and Apurva Narain) or from father to son (Hindi poetry of Kunwar Narain revisited in English by Apurva Narain) or from one media to another (the graphic novels revisiting epic events from the Mahābhārata by Amruta Patil), the processes of translation imply choices, rethinking and options which allow to discover not only what is at stake in the process but also new ways to write or to relate to the Indian world.
Rather than discussing translational theories in general, we wish to elaborate on the specificities related to the Indian context and to the personal experiences of the participants. What are the problems inherent in translating Hindi into English, be it novels or poetry? What does it mean to illustrate, for a modern reader, episodes of the Mahābhārata in form of a graphic novel? Who is the intended audience and how do these translations and transpositions relate to a Western or an Indian audience?
Each participant is invited to present and discuss his/her practice of translation and put it into perspective with the other participants. Discussants will respond to the papers and speak from the perspective of their own preoccupations with translation, be it on a theoretical or practical level. A larger audience than Indologists is expected, hence the authors should address their questions in a way they can be understood also by a wider academic public.
Program
Thursday, October 18, 2018, Amphimax, room 414
4:00 pm: Maya Burger & Nicola Pozza (Unil)
Welcome address + Introduction
4:15 pm: Jason Grunebaum (Univ. of Chicago), “‘Some of My Favorite Writers are Hindi Writers’: Challenges and Opportunities in Translating Hindi Fiction for Anglophone Audiences.”
Moderation: Angela Sanmann-Graf (Unil)
5:15 pm: Discussion with the audience
7:00 pm: Dinner in town
Friday, October 19, 2018, Amphimax, room 414
10:30 am: Amruta Patil (India/France), “Forests of Transformation”
Moderation: Martine Hennard Dutheil (Unil) & Maya Burger (Unil)
11:30 am: Discussion with the audience
12:30 pm: Lunch at the University
2:30 pm: Apurva Narain (New Delhi), “The sublime intention of poetry: Some thoughts on translating Kunwar Narain’s work”
Moderation: Blain Auer (Unil)
3:30 pm: Discussion with the audience
4:00 pm: Coffee break
4:30 pm: Final roundtable with Asha Mukherjee (Univ. of Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan) and all the participants
6:00 pm (Anthropole 1031): Public discussion with Ariane Mnouchkine, in anticipation to her play “Une chambre en Inde” (24.10-18.11, Palais de Beaulieu, Lausanne) – in collaboration with the Grange de Dorigny, TKM & Unil.
8:00 pm: Dinner in town
Website: www.unil.ch/slas